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Required reading: Vaccinations

by DAVID MATTIN

August 10 2004, 1:00am, The Times

UNDERLYING modern life is a foundation of science that most of us do not understand, and every so often we are given cause to remember it. That cause is at its most acute, surely, when it concerns the health of our children.

The proposed five-in-one vaccination jab for babies is safe, according to Department of Health officials, yet echoes of the controversy over the MMR vaccination and its possible link to autism ring out. Parents who believe that their children were harmed by MMR question the safety of the new combination as officials note its problem-free application elsewhere. Again, parents face the trial of entrusting their children’s health to expert opinion.

The MMR debate began in February 1998 when Dr Andrew Wakefield, then of the…

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